Last year, I had this idea of taking paints with me on this trip. I’m no real artist, but I wanted to make swatches of landscapes – mixing the four colours that stand out most – and turn them into postcards or something. It’s only now that I miss not having followed that idea because the Atacama desert contains some striking colours thrown together.
There’s the obvious – a barren grey (with a touch of orange) of rocky plains stretching out to the snow-topped Andes to the east. There’s a dark, rich green of the occasional crops of trees – usually a sign that humans have cleverly cultivated water in the same area. There’s the sunset hues – dusty reds, dusky purples staining everything the light still touches. And there’s even more wild shades – a bright lime green for some of the sections where short bushes cover the ground – a cold, light mintish green-grey colour staining the rocks in the Valle de Arcoíris – a murky light brown of the salt flats where salt has crystallized over or in dirt.
There’s my swatches – in words. And here’s the mint green-grey colour I was trying to describe:
We got to Calama yesterday afternoon, picked up a hire car and groceries, and set out towards San Pedro de Atacama. Our car was supposed to be a “Toyota Yaris or similar” but somehow we scored a 2020 Peugeot station wagon.
We visited the Valle de Arcoíris on our way and were the only ones in this eerie maze of incredible rock formations. We scurried up crevices, fast losing breath as we realized we must be at an altitude our bodies weren’t used to.
We then met up with Yulia from Russia and Alex from Brasil, who we are now exploring the desert with during our car hire. For the night, Dan and I set up near the Valle de la Luna.
Traveling with Yulia and Alex is fun. Yulia speaks both Spanish and English well (and Russian as her native language) and Alex speaks Spanish well and understands, but doesn’t speak much, English (on top of his native Portuguese). He’s my polar opposite. Our conversations are this beautiful blend of Spanish and English – where Alex and I can follow but not easily chip in in our not-confident language. The Spanish is slightly slower and articulated slightly more, which makes it so much easier for me to understand. It’s such a fun dynamic.
We picked up Yulia and Alex this morning and had a full-on day motoring around the desert seeing various sights. We started with Laguna Cejar (Atacama’s Black Sea), then explored lust Valle de Jede where an orchard grows in a canyon, and the twin dark blue Lagunas Miscanti and Miñiques. We tried Laguna Chaxa from various angles but couldn’t get to it.
We’re now set up for the night kind of near the ALMA observatory, with an impressive view of snowy mountains and an even more impressive view of the stars. We’ve already seen Elon Musk’s SpaceX satellites pass over – a close-knit train of lights moving in the same arc. A few hours sleep, and the moon will have set so we’ll get the full show.
Dan not only has been effortlessly switching between languages but also has done all the driving – which is quite a feat given what we’ve accomplished today. What a champion.
VRPS
[Atacama Desert]
The Two Swords 